Death Note news articles

The kanji for Misa Amane should be quite straight-forward. But its not.

Both are reasonably common names in Japan. Enough that none would blink at encountering an individual bearing the surname Amane, though it's not one of the topmost family names. More a marginal, decently sized minority.

Amane is actually more often found as a first name, applicable for males and females alike.

They certainly wouldn't fain surprise at bumping into a Japanese lady or girl named Misa. There's a lot of them about!

All adding up to it being not beyond the realms of possibility for there to be real life females called Misa Amane dotted about Japan.

They must have loved it when Death Note came out! Living for every update, with ten years worth of practiced responses under their belt - tried and tested in readiness to meet all those quips about shinigami eyes, ditzy dorks and Genki Girls, Light Yagami, Death Notes and referring to oneself in the third person.

Are you one? Or do you know Misa Amane in real life?

Do please come and share with us your anecdotes! We're dying to know.

(As you can probably already tell, just by looking at the dates above our heads! Sorry. I'll see myself out.)

I strove hard to create names that seemed real, but could not exist in the real world. ~ Tsugumi Ohba, How to Read, p59

If the family name Amane and given names Misa AND Amane are fairly unremarkable - taken in isolation, beyond the tedium and taint of Death Note mass killing psychos - then what's so complicated about interpreting the meaning of the kanji for Misa Amane?

Everything. Misa Amane's kanji is not like all the rest.

Most frequently used kanji for Misa in Japan:(Translation: Beautiful Assistant)

Meaning Behind Misa Amane's Given Name According to Tsugumi Ohba

Word of God moment now, as the true translation of Death Note Misa's first name isn't mentioned in the manga, anime, movies nor anywhere else.

It's in the manual, of course.

Please open your books to page 60, for in the Beginning the Death Note Creator made the Shinigami Realm and human world, and named all the characters within. Then gave them kanji to spell and shape this new reality.

The Origin of Misa's NameIt was kind of random but I think it was from "kuromisa" [Black Mass]. It must have been based on something.~ Tsugumi Ohba, How to Think, Death Note 13: How to Read, p60

It's actually most blatantly seen in the spelling of Misa's self-referential nickname. The Second Kira always name-checks herself in the third person as Misa-Misa.

As it's rendered in katakana, there's no wriggle room for dissent here. It says Misa Misa and that's that. However, as Ohba already pointed out, 'misa' is the Japanese word for 'mass' in the Catholic liturgy meaning.

Opening up an interesting notion that Misa is really calling herself 'Mass Mass', or 'the blessing and the benediction'. In which the objectifying lack of a pronoun is quite correct.

At a really quite minor stretch, it could be dismissal, as in 'Ite, missa est' (Go, the congregation is dismissed) - the words which close a Catholic mass - and/or its implied action point thereon, 'Go be a missionary; you have your mission'.

And you thought she was just being cute and Genki Girl childlike! (Not yet ruled out.)

Translation of the Amane Kanji for Death Note's Misa Misa

However, it's not just her given name that's attached to strange kanji and multi-faceted katakana.

Misa's family name is equally like no kanji that's ever been associated with Amane prior to Death Note. Nor can it be translated the same.

The usual kanji for Amane as a surname can be multiple and quite diverse, but within a certain theme of numinous incantations and the aural divine, plus pathetic fallacy. The two most common Amane kanji are:

天音 meaning Heavenly Sound

雨音 meaning The Sound of Rain

For Misa Amane's family name the kanji is thus, and quite unlike the others:

弥

This rare usage of Amane kanji means something like 'increasingly' or 'more and more'. Though where Tsugumi Ohba's mind was there, who can tell? He never explained it, but left it to us.

Posted as Part of

Death Note's anime adaptation ends with the suicide of Misa Amane, Second Kira and one of the most significant driving forces behind the whole broad story. Without her intervention, much original plot might never have happened, or been changed completely along a different course. Yet the manga never gave her that big dramatic send off.

She wasn't even witness at the grand finale clash between Light and Near. Her creator Tsugumi Ohba dumped his character in a hotel room and forgot about her, because he self-admittedly couldn't find 'a situation to fit her in'.

It was only by the reappraisal of the manual, in Death Note 13: How to Read, that the author seemed contrite about his choices. Ohba proffered the opinion that she probably committed suicide. Whilst also confirming that the widely believed interpretation (at the time) of the final manga scenes - that the Kira priestess was Misa reinvented as a cult leader honouring dead Light Yagami - was completely incorrect.

So why does Misa Amane commit suicide according to the mangaka mind that made her? Because someone 'like Matsuda' 'probably let it slip' that Light was dead. She had already long since stated - to L no less - that she couldn't contemplate living in a world without Light. It would be too dark.

Only now does the mangaka get the brainwave that Misa might have ended her own life. Recorded in the transcript of the interview complete with pauses denoting the hesitancy of Tsugumi Ohba as inspiration hits there and then; well after the manga chapters have completed their inaugural run of publication in Weekly Shonen Jump. He finishes weakly, 'something like that'.

It would probably be easier to accept Tsugumi Ohba's suggestion as canon, if he sounded more sure about it. But all those 'likes' and 'probablys' make it sound like he's making up stuff on the spot to answer a question and wriggle out of abandoning his character to a crowbarred plot ending. As a dutiful storyteller, he should have found the narrative that included her too.

Tetsuro Araki certainly did. At least the director of Death Note's anime met Misa Amane halfway, marrying up that maybe plot titbit inserted rather belatedly as a footnote in the manual by Ohba.

In the anime along, we get that hauntingly beautiful, though inherently creepy journey on a metro through the vibrancy of a Tokyo sunset, and the steady drifting gait across an equally red hued bridge caught against the same deep stained tapestry of a sky in the dying of the light.

Misa's haughty, sad song lightly tinkled in notes; sentiment indelibly sounded for all that, its cadence scarring cerebrally when you know what's coming.

Misa no Uta it's called, Misa's song. A bitter-sweet irony in that bardic device of our dangerous heroine able to sing her heart's own tune, walking to the beat of her own rhythm, even as she grasps her life losses and lack of control so keenly that she is journeying into self-slaughter.

The poetic juxtaposition of circumstance echoed in her visage and attire. Misa Amane has dressed carefully for her existence's final scene. The actress has manicured her nails, painting them purple; adorning two rings to match in gleaming purple and blue/green. Her make-up is applied to perfection. No random clump of mascara on a rogue eyelash, nor lipstick mostly wiped off before you've even left your own home station, as would happen in reality. Misa-Misa's cosmetic attention has left her face as a canvas covered in a glossy mask, like a doll staring flawless and porcelain back. Not helped by the deadening of all expression in her gaze.

Her clothing is just as carefully chosen and arranged about her person. Black and white dress, with matching headband, and great white ruffles arranged just so. Beneath that topmost article, her hair remains teased into shape, styled without a strand out of place, like every lock was cemented on. Her big, clumpy platform shoes mark the precision of her gait, keeping it of necessity slow, as if she apes the slow, striding pace of the funeral director at her own final send off.

There is something of the Geisha about her, though not a single visual artifice directly apes that of those traditional entertainers. But for the general unreality of the look; woman as walking art. A canvas shell without soul inside, to be adorned for the pleasure and artistry of the thing. Which isn't to paint a disservice to the actual Geisha, who were notably vital. Particularly those with their obi worn around the front.

Misa no Uta (Misa's Song) - English Lyrics

Misa's telling us that she's already gone. She's made herself outwardly pretty in order to smash the shell of self to smithereens. So unflinching and perfectly rendered that she appears not pretty at all, but abnormal. An animated marionette teetering towards the edge of the Uncanny Valley. We will not like what comes next. Fortunately for viewers of anime, Death Note doesn't show it. Implied amidst the final credits, we see the sky turn pink and arms outstretched, she leaps. More so in imagination than ink.

So was Tsugumi Ohba right? Was it for love of Light that Misa Amane makes this horrifically unromantic fatal plunge? The timing would imply so.

Misa-Misa suicides on St Valentine's Day 2011. Choosing February 14th on which to end her life has an obvious resonance for those viewing from the West. A day in which lovers are celebrated makes this unequivocally about Light Yagami. Fragmented sensibilities exposed therein, echoed in the lyrics that she intones so sweetly en route:

(English translation of Misa no Uta/Misa's Song)

Be mindful for God is watching.

In the dark alley, don't let go of my hand;for if you do I know that I'll be safe.Even if I'm far away and alone,I can be sure you will find me there. This I know.

You draw me close for a while, so quiet.You tell me everything.If I forget what you say, then you come to me,and tell me again. Yes, you tell me once again.

But what happens when I know it all?Then what should I do after that? What then?

However, we may be forgetting something quite important. Misa Amane is not Western. She is born and bred Japanese, and Valentine's Day isn't marked in precisely the same way there.

February 14th is the day when Japanese women and girls vie to press their hand-made tezukuri chocolate into the hands and hearts of favoured males. If accepted, the gifter can expect to be the recipient of a small token - usually a white ribbon - on March 14th, aka White Ribbon Day. Thereon all that remains is the marriage, mortgage, pets, 2.4 children and a lifetime in drudgery to the maintenance of the household. But first they have to get Christmas out of the way.

It's not Valentine's Day when all romance is sought, elicited and put on show in Japan. It's Christmas Day. This is not a Christian nation. No-one native to Tokyo is singing hymns to baby Jesus, whilst trying to square that with the pile of presents to be bought and wrapped for the kids and all out.

Instead, they're trying to snag a date. Christmas in Japan is for couples. It's the more obvious date for Misa's sunset dive into finality. Which should incur the supposition that this is less about Light than something else. Except for one thing.

Misa Amane was born on Xmas Day and died on Valentine's Day. She would see that as heartbreakingly romantic, when in reality it's just heartbreaking. Nevertheless, the interconnecting of life and death in those two dates does bespoke a love issue underlying her grisly end. Plus it's only a fortnight on from the first anniversary of her disappeared finance's supposed death. The sadness would naturally push up to peek at such flashpoint dates with that the biggest of all.

More imagery relating to her lost relationship with Light Yagami lies in digging deep into the fine detail of each frame moving her excruciatingly steady towards her final encounter with a far distant pavement. Putting it all together might entrail the overall picture a little more.

The last time Misa sees and talks to Light is whilst lodged within the Teito Hotel (Hotel Teito, trans. Imperial).

Prior to the Yellow Box showdown, Near arranges for Hal Lidner and Mogi to forcibly re-home Misa in a reasonably luxurious room there. While Mogi tells Light that he's there by chose, Misa blithely announces that she is not. Yet she makes no attempt to escape, despite earlier chapters making clear her resourcefulness in such situations. On the contrary to her spoken words, she seems quite pleased to be there. Though whether her joyfulness is approval expressed as glee in regard to the appointment of this expensive room or rests fully (or in part) upon another underlying cause, it's never made clear.

During the two day interim just prior, it might be assumed that Light and Misa have conversed via telephone or PC, though such is never show. Then Misa is nominally set free. However, she is given the usage and run of a penthouse suite in the same hotel, and Misa's exuberance now holds no bounds.

Just before Light leaves towards the Yellow Box Warehouse and his eventual, unforeseen death, he speaks with his hyper fiancée against over the telephone. Misa Misa is beside herself with delight; rolling like a toddler around the furnishings. In fairness, Light does tell her to stay put, while he confidently walks towards degradation and the flooring of his plans of living openly in divinity, recognized as such in all due numinous euphoria. Instead, it is Near's reality which is inserted upon the scene and Light sees eight years of careful elevation dissolve into Nothingness. Right on the brink, or so he thought, of his Godhead coming into fruition.

Bloodied, raving, insane and disappointed to a deep soul level, Light never once turns to Misa, safely ensconced in the luxury of Teito's top floor apartment. As far as she's concerned, he simply let her rot there, while he walked away and vanished unutterably from their common law marriage. Eight years plus of near constant cohabitation, de facto conjugation and sometime actual companionship just got thrown away.

Because, for some inexplicable reason Light's wife, mother and sister are never told of his demise.

The rationale is breezed over in the manga/anime as 'security' to safeguard the secrets of a highly classified case. Moreover one which is laced with international ramifications should news of Kira's illegal and ignominious kangaroo court death get out.

Not to mention local/national ones for the officers (and Near) involved, if their part in such proceedings was leaked to the press, public and Amnesty International. Still fiercely pro-Kira in those immediate aftermath months, Japan would be unlikely to support such vigilante dealings. Nor should be be forgotten that it disbanded one corrupt police force after World War II, then severely curtailed the liberties of its secondary, replacement force. There's a cultural twitch regarding abuse of due process by law enforcement officers to be evoked in Japan. Not a thing to be overlooked as YOLO.

Which means that for fear of the mob (in governments wide-world or on the street), Sayu, Sachiko and Misa have to suffer the unceasing starting and listening at any sound that might be their missing man come home. The inordinate cruelty of never knowing if he lies chained and tortured in some dark hole, or is freely wandering the Earth in rejection of their love.

There's a dark, unbending cruelty there, not lessened by the months its allowed to endure, and made considerably worse by the justifications ditched out by all concerned for such obdurate behaviour.

Meanwhile, whatever else may or may not feature in the mix, Misa's sense of self will be eroding with every passing day of waiting, watching, hoping, imagining, knowing that someone knows something and will let her languish like this in perpetuity - her worth and sanity deemed less than whatever reason underpins such relentlessness in silence.

Also adrift will be her societal connectivity (who can empathize amongst her neighbours and peers?); her yet to be mourned loss of context for a life shared with Light and hitherto built upon dreams, aspirations/goals and actual plans (how can she gain closure and remould a future, when he could walk back in at any moment, or not, and she will never know which until she watches the door and dies a little more inside each time it remains shut); and the deadening of that fundamentally Japanese concept of her personal 'ikigai' (reason to exist?).

All this alone may well account for Misa's descent into despair enough to jump from the roof of that skyscraper. But there's much more going on besides.

Some of it subtle, existing in the imagery alone. You see, Teito Hotel actually existed once. It was built, maintained and used by Allied Forces, foreign diplomats and Western business personnel in the post-WWII forcible reconstruction of Japan. Its architecture was distinctly American, as was the service, décor, amenities and portable goods to be found inside. By the order of General MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for/of the Allied Powers, no Japanese clientèle was permitted within. Teito served Western venture capitalists, merchant buyers and global market enterprise agents only.

There was a reason it was called the Imperial. In Japanese.

No wonder Misa was so stunned to be sitting in the Penthouse suite. She must have been sneaked past reception by Near or one of his American personnel, because no-one as Japanese as she could possibly have been there under normal circumstances. Despite it being in Japan.

When Hotel Teito was finally sold back to Japan - under private ownership subject to the highest bidder - in 1959, the first thing that occurred was the whole edifice being razed to the ground and swept cleanly away. Hotel Palace with its elegant Japanese designs in architecture, facilities and interiors now stands pointedly upon the spot.

Japan regained its sovereignty in its own domain. Misa Amane could not.

Memories gone, she will never know the context for the crushing aftermath and secrecy surrounding the Kira case, nor her involvement in it. Light gone, she will never know why, how, where or when he was disappeared, nor if its even possible for him to come back.

She can never grasp those essential foundation stones for her own continuance into the future, but must remain waiting in a sort of emotional and esoteric limbo.

While practical things remain a nightmare too.

Without proof that her long-time partner is or is not dead, there will be bills continuing to come for him and maybe some accounts inaccessible without his consent readily available.

All of this psychological upheaval would take its toll upon the most steadfast mind, but Misa has twice been an owner of a Death Note. Right there in the rules it states that users will feel despair and torment as a result of their writing within those pages. Misa killed her victims in the hundreds of thousands. It's safe to say she used more than one shinigami notebook and incurred such penalties upon her mentality from all. It doesn't matter than her memories of mass slaughter are all gone. This isn't a memory. It's an indelible mark in common to all human Death Note owners.

No amount of anti-depressants, Tai Chi sessions and mindfulness training are going to shift her from a despondency that she cannot trace to source. She kicked over the routes back there when she surrendered her notebook possession and shinigami eyes with it. Misa cannot even understand why. She'll never be able to fix it; nor can she know that.

There are other aspects too, seen in literal flashbacks - single frozen images flickering through her mind's eye, visible to the viewer too. This is Tetsuro Araki edging his bets in blatant disregard for the Death Note rules. Misa's memories have been washed clean, yet she still recalls numbers and names above people's heads.

She either retains the ability to view death data upon all things living now - in which case who wouldn't go mad or want to simply make it go away by ending the life of flesh and blood sustaining it? Or rogue, inexplicable snapshots of horrors have somehow stuck in her memory's cache. Clues towards knowing that she was once something or someone much more, but that's gone too with no way of knowing what it was nor how to reclaim it, should she want to.

Another blow to self-esteem and the wish towards self-preservation.

Or if Misa - more clever than half of her scenes would have her being, if the other half imply things more clearly - has worked it out enough to know what she was, and perhaps who Light Yagami was too, then she'd also understand she was on the losing team.

All humans beings want the haven of acceptance. To be within the cherubic sound of harmonious consensus all around in what you believe; and the cherished trills of affirmation from those concurring that you were right in things thought, said and done; the deep notes warming to a theme of being, totally and unshakably, a part of the great melody in the world about us, enjoying the overture resounding of, in and throughout our universe.

But Misa Amane sings alone. Her own song ineffectual, lost against a world that she can witness turning against Kira for the spectacle that's gone.

Besmirching his vision, shared by herself, with a growing number of voices raised against him in condemnation. Seeing all they'd accomplished in sacrifice and blood amounting to nothing now the new God is gone, and his dominion with him. Only the void remains now for Misa Amane, perceiving herself in isolation; visions lost in a paradigm of rising crime and wars reinstated; too making people telling her that she was wrong. Though not to her face. They didn't know, nor ever would, what she did or was.

And neither would she.

As Misa Amane's sole song finished, she stared into the abyss; and it stared back. The last Death Note credits rolled from view and Misa-Misa jumped.

Posted as Part of

Misa Amane's character, and her possession of a second shinigami notebook, had a tremendous impact upon both major arcs of Death Note. But there was no Misa-Misa in the Yellow Box.

After screaming, scheming, manipulating and manoeuvring her way through nearly one hundred chapters of the manga, Death Note's main female protagonist was merely moved out of the spotlight and left sidelined from the plot.

"Where's Misa?" Light raged, in his final throngs of desperation, and we might well have asked the same thing.

She was with Mogi, in the penthouse of a posh hotel, stashed there by Near to keep her from helping Kira mid-climactic confrontation. Misa said it was without her consent, but she wasn't trying too hard to get away. She sounded downright enthusiastic when she was deposited into those luxurious surroundings, so that Mogi could attend the finale without her. Even then, Misa-Misa made no attempt to flee. She did not try to join her beloved Light.

It seemed out of character for her. This was the woman who would have died for Light Yagami; who twice shortened her lifespan by half each time on his behalf; who withstood torture for weeks on end in his defence; and who killed indiscriminately, in truly mind-boggling proportions of mass slaughter, to impress him or else cover his back.

Yet Misa wouldn't leave an unguarded penthouse, when every clue at her disposal hinted at a showdown moment for Light. She stayed put because it was pretty. Though, to be fair, Light did tell her to remain there for the time being. Though since when did directives like that figure, if Misa had any inkling that her erstwhile fiancé might need her.

We barely needed Death Note author Tsugumi Ohba to state what was obvious. Misa Amane was sidelined at the end, as he didn't 'have a situation in which to fit her'. (How to Read: Death Note 13) Just like Mello, Misa was simply bundled out of sight, however out of character the requisite actions and decisions, in lieu of her creator to pen a plot-line that accommodated all personae dramatis.

Perhaps it was hoped that we wouldn't notice. We did.

Do you agree with this reading of the situation? What do you think would have occurred had Misa Amane been in the Yellow Box warehouse? Would Light's mental disintegration have shaken her devotion to him, thus saving her from the suicide that finally constituted Misa Amane's departure from the Death Note story?

Posted as Part of

There's always been something a little off about events in the Yellow Box Warehouse, wherein was staged Death Note's climactic scenes.

It's all good drama nontheless. We get Gevanni's sleight of hand with Death Notes performed like a stage magician's prestige; that breath-taking instant of Light's confession; the chaos and the shooting; a divine madman's soliloquy on the subject of justice; and Near's finest hour in the coldest put-down to ever deaden a burgeoning reality.

Not to mention the revelation of Mell0's final heroism, as martyr to the cause (inadvertently taking Matt with him), being more meaningful than hitherto suspected; and the crawling disbelief of Light, as the Kira veneer is stripped from him and we're all reminded that Ryuk was only ever here for the lulz.

Then death - a flashing ghost of glowing L, if this is the anime over manga - and everyone leaves to resume normality in a world, where the given order has long since been shaken to the core. Global society now quickly recovering with a haste almost indecent enough to prove Kira right after all.

And everyone lived happily ever after.

So - Run it by Us Again - How Did Death Note End?! I Think We Missed a Bit...

Except they didn't. Do you know a single Death Note fan who hasn't at least questioned the unfolding narrative in that scene?

Attempting to follow Near's proof and logic from confrontation to conclusion; not only of the moment, but the whole story supposedly unravelling in evidence that leads directly to Light's undignified demise.

I think everyone read or watched it again at least twice. I've lost count of forum posts with each new fandom victim meandering to say, 'Erm, sorry, but I don't quite get this.'

Thus follows the specific point where they tripped down yawning the plot-holes, now opening up like a minefield across the scene: What did Mello do again? How did Near know x, y, z? Is he psychic or something? And what the sweet proverbial was up with Mikami's bizarreness in behaviour generally and facial expressions definitely?

Everyone too busy worrying that they were the only one left confused to even touch upon the gore of that arterial blood-burst, so gloried in the anime as Mikami's dramatic turn at self-harm.

You know what I mean. We've all been there. Several detailed readings or stop-contemplate-start viewings on, some of us can even convince ourselves that the denunciation is sequential; all points supported with no great leaps of faith; and it all makes sense. Otherwise we've sat though 37 episodes/108 chapters of story that doesn't deliver at the final crescendo of all that build-up. Which can't be true, when the tale is widely deemed to be a - perhaps the - classic of the genre; wildly, unabashedly and unceasingly popular on a global scale.

So the doubt creeps in that it's us instead. We weren't genius enough to fully 'get' it. It's enough to pretend we did, then run with the points that were discerned and fitted perfectly in place.

The rest is simply fan-fiction.

Death Note Doesn't End at the Yellow Box

The problem is our natural propensity to think of Death Note as Light's story. It's not. It's Ryuk's. (Though Tarot Mikami is coming up shortly with an intriguing perspective on the manga also being Matsuda's tale.) Nevertheless when the epic build up breaks upon Kira's death, and subsequent dissembling into nothingness, it can seem like we went with him.

What follows is way too often dismissed as superlative; an epilogue to bring us all back down to Earth. While mischievously inserting doubt over whether Light really lost, when Kira worshippers still ritually congregate and believe.

But this, not Kira's Curtain, was what it was all leading up to. Tsugumi Ohba himself said, in How to Read - Death Note 13, that the vision of these scenes in Finis were what caused the spark of inspiration to flow through the rest of the Death Note narrative. All else he wrote was working back from this, no tacked on arcs post-L, nor leaping into the grave with Light. For all their game-changing grandeur, they were ultimately merely markers upon the narrative, pointing beyond themselves to now.

Pinging upon the sacred number of Defilements in Buddhism, Finis is chapter 108. It always would be. Ohba decided that one early on, and left the one-shot manga to follow unnumbered so not to alter the fact that Death Note has exactly 108 chapters. You can count them on your Mala Beads, if you want.

So what great facet is revealed to us here? That Light found divinity in the end? That the world without him simply returns to previous form: crime rate rising to pre-Kira levels; all else flowing back as if the last seven years had been erased, with even the same people in the streets, older, yet doing exactly the same things.

Light's endeavours, and even erstwhile existence, rendered meaningless in minute, subtle ways. Like the return of Yamamoto, last seen in cameo within the earliest Death Note chapters as Light Yagami's friend; now greeting Matsuda as his BFF, and off they go to the pub. Light's own mother never learning the truth of his loss. Told lies to cover up the reality as seen and shaped by her son. His place in the world, philosophy, perspective and pursuits all rendered Mu as his Kira ridden soul. All else come full circle and moved on like he was never there.

Nor is this the point of Finis. It just the fine detail in the background driving certain messages home; if we're charitable a coda of candles in the wind.

Matsuda's Theory is Not a Coda; It's the Final Piece in the Jigsaw Puzzle

It's in the foreground that the big reveal is happening, hidden in plain sight through the chattering of a 'Fool' and already dismissed by Ide before we even make the mountain top.

Most readers agreeing, because we're too distracted by Light and all the lovely Easter eggs waving from the scenery. Plus we already feel like idiots for not quite 'getting' the Near exposee of Light in the Yellow Box Warehouse, and we're damned if we're going to be drawn into another long explanation posited by a traumatized idiot.

Matsuda's always been so easy to dismiss. Particularly now, when we recently saw his gullibility writ large upon that shattering previous scene. His shock in the great Kira reveal caused such a meltdown that he's probably suffering PTSD or something now. Racked with guilt over Soichiro and so many dead; still obviously wrestling with the shock of knowing a third of his life was lived as a lie; his loyalty disabused in the most belittling, gut-wrenching way.

We don't need the ghost of L to whisper, 'Shut up, Matsuda! You idiot!' Because we're hardly listening anyway. It's just background noise finally shut down by Ide, tacitly approved by all lost in mourning for our mass murdering megalomaniac and his warped sense of justice.

Now echoed by Ide himself, as he decrees Kira's crimes terrible enough to warrant his summary execution - with an illegally wielded firearm (Matsuda was technically off-duty) and a Death God's intervention, in an out of the way warehouse, without charge, nor trial, judge and jury, and no right of appeal before instant death. Based upon evidence constructed from a self-confessed SPK sting, plus Near sounding so sure as he blithely divulged bits of the known coupled with conjecture, like it was the only way things could have played out.

His speech, on behalf of the prosecution in this kangaroo court condemnation of Kira, seemed utterly watertight. Yet Near was still able to reorder his version of events, to encompass the implications of Mello's intent in Takada's abduction, as Hal Lidner testified her impression of the same rather late in the day. It was an interpretation which cast a different hue upon the timeline, but delivered in confidence nontheless and received likewise from all who heard. Just as they'd accepted the prior telling too.

Maybe because they, like those bearing witness from our ringside seats in the fourth wall, couldn't truly follow it at the time.

But Near is a genius, so it must be true; and who cares why or how a Mafia man died? While Matt only turned up twelve panels ago, if he'd lived he probably wouldn't have amounted to much. We hardly knew him, so let him go - collateral damage in a war against a man too rotten to live in this world of safety and security, and justice.

Around this time in proceedings, it's normally behoven for babes or Fools to call out to say that the Emperor wears no clothes; or that in this Orwellian warehouse scenario it's getting difficult to call the pigs from the humans, humans from the pigs, nor tell the rationale of Kira from those arrayed extra-judicially against him.

Unfortunately the Fool Matsuda was in meltdown at the time, being dragged away by his friends; while the only child present was made judge and chief prosecutor at the same time. Needless to say, he won the day. Then watched Light Yagami die as a result; howling, without advocacy, nor anyone to ask whether Light was even sane enough at this point to understand what was happening to him. Or take the opportunity to arrest Kira, hold him safe, and learn what he knew about the Afterlife and eternity, and all those other things that philosophers, priests and ordinary people have pondered to distraction over every millennia of human sentience.

Instead all watched too, accepting the sense of prevailing 'rightness' in the air around Near. Who watched Kira die and kept the Death Notes.

Which was the actual point of the Yellow Box confrontation - to knock out the opposition and clear the decks ready to quietly seize power, when no-one else was looking. At least it is, if we're running with the gut instinct of Matsuda and some really quite compelling end game theories for Near in Death Note.

No Black and White in Light and Near - Matsuda Muses Upon Morality Post-Kira

One year to the day after the death of Light Yagami, Touta Matsuda still isn't convinced that they were on the right 'side' in the end. He watches society sink back from fear of Kira into a resurgence of the usual mix of humanity for good or ill living as they will. With the inevitable wave of criminal behaviour surfing in ever higher numbers in their midst, Matsuda's depression deepens.

For those not actually targeted by Kira, these streets had been safer under his horrific regime.

It's an unsettling notion that maybe, after all, they did crucify their Saviour. Yet sharing his concerns with Ide elicits a most telling reply:

Kira was wrong. Because that's what they DECIDED by consensus was the case. Kira has to be wrong, or else there was no purpose attached to the sacrifice of those serving on the anti-Kira Task Force, nor who lost their lives in other parties in his opposition.

Condemn Light Yagami's worldview, and his prospective Godhood with it, and survivors like Matsuda, Ide, Aizawa, Mogi and Near with his group all become war heroes. Able to feel pride in their past endeavours and self-respect for themselves. Their fallen - Soichiro, Ukita, L, Watari, Raye Penbar, Mello, Matt et al - become martyrs in a noble cause. The Glorious Dead of cenotaphs, remembered with honour and distinction.

Support Kira in memory and all that fails. Each become betrayers, of a friend and comrade, perhaps of a Messiah. Maybe even the destroyers of humanity itself; thieves of a genuine Utopian dream.

It was decided Kira was not right, because otherwise they wouldn't be able to grasp what they were fighting for in that bitter, seven year war. And madness beckons that way.

There's another point unsettling Matsuda, prickling at his conscience - just because they all decided (at the time and since) to stand against Light Yagami, why should that make them automatically pro-Near?

It's like there's only two sides about which to align oneself, and if one is demonstrably evil/insane/wrong, then the other by default is good/reasonable/right.

The entire Task Force appears to view Near as L's true successor, completely, absolutely and with all due trust. Their resources are placed at the Wammy boy's command.

Yet to Matsuda's mind, Near never earned that. Moreover, there are a string of worrisome - potentially catastrophic - concerns which were never fully answered. They could well be swapping one egotistical and manipulative serial killer for another; making the same mistakes all over again. Unfortunately no-one appears ready nor willing to hear him out.

Does Tota Matsuda's Theory Reveal Death Note Truths as its Grand Manga Finale?

For all that its generally ignored, or blatantly rejected within the panels of the Death Note manga, Matsuda's theory isn't that off the wall. It's nestling comfortably in the realms of actual possibility.

Whilst recalling that this was the chapter planned from the start - following one that was almost called Black Curtain (a Japanese euphemism for someone orchestrating events behind the scenes) - and that Tsugumi Ohba blatantly said that 'Near cheats', let's recap. These were the points of plot that Touta Matsuda was pondering:

Near Played Mello like a Puppet

Before indulging in speculation about this part of Matsuda's Theory re Mello, please read what Death Note News reader Dominic Miller has to comment below. He has effectively disproved its veracity, as Near didn't have Mikami's notebook in time for this sequence of events to be feasible.

Was Near conveying misinformation to Mello via Hal Lidner, psychologically edging his foster brother into acting just as Near willed. A pawn in his game after all.

Alternatively, as alumni of the same orphanage, Near might be expected to know Mello's real name, while also having a good mental picture of his face. Mello's move certainly benefited Near, while obviously having dire consequences for Mello himself.

Did Near write the name of his Wammy rival into the notebook captured from Mikami?

Thus eliminating a challenger to his own glory right on the eve of Near's win over Kira, whilst also taking out the dangerous Takada, setting up Mikami, providing evidence that Light is Kira to throw into play AND testing possible conjecture of Near's own in the validity of his real/fake Death Note.

Five strikes in one foul swoop, if this one was true and Near really did manipulate Mello into his own martyrdom. (With an option on Matt too. Near had the means and that eliminated the next in line after Mello, once the second's heart was broken and finally, decisively he could be burned out of this deadly game of L's Succession.)

If Mello's abduction of Takada was orchestrated by Near via a Death Note, it would explain some of the more bizarre aspects and imagery surrounding Mello at this time.

For a start, the moment of possession would have come when Hal and Mello spoke on the line. She passes on Near's specific message, "Soon he'll bring things to a conclusion directly." And Mello answers, "He's going to make him write our names in the notebook directly." Just as Hal said, he knew.

The blond Wammy teen sits on a darkened throne, forearms draped across his thighs and hands dangling; head bowed listlessly beneath a cascading curtain of hair. Like a puppet awaiting his strings to be pulled; on a floor decked as a chessboard; surrounded by mannequins, aping the debris from a battle-field; and a white dust-cover behind him draped as an awaiting winding sheet or shroud.

If Mello's actions from now on are controlled by his puppet-master Near, then it accounts for his uncharacteristic lapse in judgement in the back of the truck. When Takada - known to use the Death Note and likely to have a snippet of it upon her person - is allowed to retain her underwear, and is even afforded a blanket for the sake of decency.

All the privacy she needed to extract the weapon to kill Mihael Keehl on Near's behalf. Just as planned.

Near Controlled and Killed Mikami

Near was in possession of Teru Mikami's name, facial image and a Death Note prior to the meeting in the Yellow Box warehouse. Did he write Mikami's name in there, directing the lawyer's actions in the days leading up to, during and after their denunciation of Kira?

Mikami died mysteriously in prison ten days after the Yellow Box confrontation. His passing went without remark by those who should have been asking questions concerning its convenience in tying up loose ends for all on the Kira case. Did Near kill Mikami by writing the fatality into a Death Note?

I'm not going to tackle this key aspect of Matsuda's theory about Near in the Death Note ending, because quite frankly Casuistor and Teruzuki have already done and completely owned that. Convinced me anyway.

All ur Death Notes Belong 2 Near

Why was Near sole allowed custody of all shinigami notebooks remaining in the human world?

Near stated that Ryuk confirmed two false rules, with one of them being the burning of a Death God's notebook will causally kill its destroyer. Near then burned all of his accumulated Death Notes, in order to keep them from being used by any future Kira pretender.

However, no-one else was present for that conversation with the shinigami. Though they all heard it heralded in discussion within the Yellow Box Warehouse.

Moreover, nor did anyone witness Near's Bonfire of the Death Notes. Therefore how can anyone be so sure that he hasn't got them still?

If Near possesses just one Death God's notebook, then he's currently an extremely powerful force to be reckoned with upon the world stage. He's had ample opportunity to assess its possibilities and to know its limitations. He's had Light, Misa, Mikami, Mello and a host of others test it out for him.

He has already used it to control the actions of others, supposing that Matsuda's theory is correct; and has killed several times for personal gain and achievement by cheating.

Nobody knows that he has it. He's not orchestrating a crusade as Light attempted to do. He's just got access to a remarkable level of personal power and influence, the eternal company of a Death God to discuss what's previously not been met in his philosophy.

Near's under the radar because nobody thought to check that he really did incinerate those books. A strange oversight to be made by police officers entrenched for years on this case.

Why is Near Staging a Reunion on the First Anniversary of Kira's Death?

Now, on the anniversary of that traumatic confrontation with Kira, why is Near:

chasing a drugs cartel into the very same location;

preparing to confront them actually in the Yellow Box Warehouse;

and calling upon those there last time to join him in situ once again?

Ide initially sees nothing strange in this. Aizawa agreed to send the staff. No immediate word from Mogi, though the assumption is compliance.

Only Matsuda wonders what game the Wammy boy is playing now. Though in this, at least, he does appear to persuade Ide that something strange is going on - a connection to what went before; what was previously arranged.

However, we never do find out. Matsuda manages to convince Ide to at least intimidate some parts of his theory have been heard, and taken seriously. For a moment, the older man steps into Touta Matsuda's reality and that kind of affirmation was all the young officer needed for comfort in his unsolvable, unsettling theorizing.

A touch of grace and we see the old Fool back. Matsuda grinning with a friend, too busy chatting, making plans to visit a bar tonight, to properly hear a word Near has to say anymore. The final word in Death Note - before the ritual coda of Kira cultists - is Near's admonishment to Matsuda, "Listen carefully!"

Maybe because Near knows that he might need Matsuda one day to stop him too, if only the Fool would pay attention. But for now he's distracted, laughing and moved on, Near got away with killing for personal gain. But surely that's understandable? Just ask Kira.

Posted as Part of

It may be the tenth anniversary of its initial publication, yet manga editions of Death Note sales remain evergreen in the US, Canada and Mexico.

In fact, this far down the line, Death Note manga volumes are still one of the Top 10 best-selling titles within the c0ntinent for the genre. It pretty much seems lodged there; camped in all perpetuity.

That's according to ICv2 - the North American pop culture news magazine for retailers - reporting in the April 4th 2016 issue of Publishers Weekly.

While Death Note may lack the current mega-sales of latest releases like Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul and One-Punch Man, that's because they are new and trending fashionably. But that's more than made up for by the steady drip-drip of continued Death Note manga editions purchased throughout the last decade.

It even survived well during the overall manga slump in North America, which saw the trade in Japanese titles fall from a high of $210m in 2007 to a mere $65m by 2012. The market had bounced back up to $75m by 2014 - mostly on the back of Tokyo Ghoul and One-Punch Man - with early figures suggesting that North American manga sales rose by another 13% again during 2015.

Yet even during the down days in manga consumerism, interest in Death Note there never really wavered. ICv2 stated that it, along with Dragon Ball, went on 'selling well'.

So why should Death Note stand out so much amid all the rest? ICv2 CEO Milton Griepp has an answer for that too. "I think it all comes down to quality," He said, comparing Ohba and Obata's epic manga with iconic graphic novels of the West, like Alan Moore's Watchman or Batman: The Killing Joke. "Death Note is a good series."

To mark the tenth anniversary of Death Note, there's a fabulous analysis of the manga's protagonist over on Anime News Network.

Under the heading Ten Years of Death Note: Is Light the Bad Guy?, columnist Jacob Hope Chapman takes a reasonably in-depth, albeit whistle-stop look not only at the character of Light Yagami himself, but how fans received him and how the author may have intended him to be.

There's a discussion on why people might accept mass murder and even justify the need - touching upon the darker impulses within us all; and whether insanity runs more rampant than merely with Kira.

Chapman brilliantly, and humorously, makes the case for Light Yagami being no 'anti-hero' nor erstwhile saviour, but a villain par excellence. Perhaps manga's most iconic villain at that.

Moreover, Chapman contextualises Kira within the wider auspices of justice. Making me happy, he also alights upon issues of human rights, which Light Yagami certainly never goes near.

Though he never elaborates upon the point, the columnist does demonstrate quite clearly how easily society will accept the wicked and insane, if the justification is presented gradually and enticingly enough. In this regard using Kira apologists amongst the Death Note fandom as an example, rather than, say, Donald Trump's supporters. Seen from a long view, their pro-Kira arguments are denigrated as 'commonly insane'. Can't argue there!

Everyman Matsuda - The Reader's Representative Within the Death Note Plot?

Chapman also talks about other characters in relation to Light Yagami (who is, after all, the focus of his analysis).

In particular he notes how Matsuda is too regularly dismissed as merely the idiot of the Death Note world. When, upon closer inspection, it turns out that the young police officer holds a vital role within the narrative and its dramatis personæ.

Matsuda serves as an everyman, the character whose views act as a litmus test for the wider perspective of fashionable society. As he wavers in support of Kira, then so do the greater Japanese masses.

If not an actual bellwether, then Matsuda certainly performs as a weathercock, testing the winds of public acclaim or disdain concerning Kira at any given juncture.

His ultimate dismissal of Light Yagami as God - or Kira as a force of justice and good - pretty much serves as the Japanese populace turning its collective back upon such grandiose pretensions of divinity. Or as Chapman puts it:

Matsuda's emotional breakdown is one of the best parts of the show's finale because it just feels so right. Over time, without anyone noticing, Matsuda came to represent the everykid: all those normal Japanese millennials just trying to live their lives, maybe secretly posting defenses of Kira online, maybe just keeping their conflicted feelings to themselves, but open enough to the incredible change Kira had caused to feel like maybe condemning him wasn't fair. Of course there's something attractive about the idea of people who hurt others getting universally punished to create a more peaceful humanity. But it's just an idea, and when Matsuda is confronted with the reality of Kira—an egomaniacal brat who even killed his own dad to further his self-righteous empire—he feels more betrayed than anyone else.~ Ten Years of Death Note: Is Light the Bad Guy?, Jacob Hope Chapman, Anime News Network (March 18th 2016)

And though Chapman doesn't go so far as to say it, doesn't that make Matsuda our representative in the Death Note universe too? The Everyman serves as spokesperson for the readership, as we get seduced by the rhetoric of Light Yagami and symbolizes our own slap in the face by reality, as Kira's descent into insanity becomes way too obvious to support.

Then we too, like Matsuda, get to retrace our own allegiances back through each worsening compromise to that first loosening of all common sense and good morals.

Instead, Chapman sees in Matsuda a proxy for Tsugumi Ohba's own secret views on the matter, which itself makes fascinating reading and compelling food for thought. It's definitely worth the time to check it out.

Posted during

It's hardly the shock news of the century, but Platinum EndVolume One is being planned for publication by Viz Media. That was the major announcement of vague interest to us given at last week's Anime Boston convention.

Platinum End is the latest manga collaboration between Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, the duo who brought us Death Note.

It focuses upon the adventures of suicidal protagonist Mirai, who acquires the ability to see and interact with his guardian angel, whilst mid-fall. Divine intervention saves his life, but eternity still beckons. Mirai, it transpires, is just one of currently twelve human slated to become gods upon their eventual demise. How and why this is a thing will have to await your reading of the manga itself.

The collation and publication of Platinum End as a single volume of manga will occur roughly concurrent with the Death Note live-action movie is released in cinemas. Nothing like a nice bit of tie-in publicity all round!

Look for both around the autumn (or Fall, if you're American) of 2016. No set date has yet been released, but you'll be the first to know when we do.

Death Note Touta Matsuda's blood type B is an important bit of information for readers to know.

Divulging it is afforded a prominent position in Death Note 13: How to Read, alongside key data more familiar to Westerners, like date of birth, height, weight etc. But why do we need to know this?

In Japan, blood type personalities are assigned as keenly as those of us in the West look to the Zodiac. There are even the equivalent to horoscopes published in the newspapers, predicting the day's events for those with certain blood groups.

Whole books have been written - and certainly magazine articles have been penned by the thousands - highlighting the compatibility in love matches between those of each blood type.

While it might all seem a little unfamiliar and strange in its execution to those more used to gaining our insights from the stars, knowing the blood group of manga personalities lets us know what kind of person the author had in mind, when writing their scenes.

Death Note Matsuda Blood Group B Personality Type

He's the sort to lean towards action over introspection; rushing in where angels fear to tread. A doer; a creative force; an instigator; a leader - even if it's only leading others into danger and folly.

This action man is deemed to have a strong, possibly domineering personality by those around him. He becomes very passionate about new projects or those subjects which interest him.

However, he might also be labelled an irresponsible maverick, when he charges off doing things his own way. Moreover, blood type B personalities are seen as unforgiving of those people who bore them, or else hold them back with routine, workaday approaches to life and all its vagaries. They really hate doing chores.

Personality Traits Associated with Blood Type B for Touta Matsuda in Death Note

Active;

Creative;

Innovative;

A 'doer';

Impulsive;

Spontaneous;

Leaders;

Curious about everything;

Interested in everything that catches THEIR eye;

Think outside the box;

Uncooperative;

Unconventional;

Optimistic;

Adaptable to changing circumstance;

Pragmatic;

Bombastic;

Too many hobbies/interests, hence may become overwhelmed by them;

Energetic;

Overly serious;

Cold;

Unemotional;

Grumpy;

Easily bored;

Listen to their thoughts over their feelings;

Passionate;

Happy-go-lucky;

Rule-breakers;

Doggedly reach for goals that others deem impossible;

Off-the-wall types;

Well-intended;

Relaxed;

Practical;

Friendly;

Flexible thinkers;

Excel in things rather than settle for average;

Maverick;

Irresponsible;

Neglectful;

Liable to get tunnel-vision regarding their own ideas or projects;

Hyper-focus on their own projects to the exclusion of all else;

Specialists in their own field;

Tend to research to the utmost detail the nitty-gritty of things that interest them;

Insensitive to the needs/thoughts/ideas/desires of others;

Unforgiving;

Freewheeling;

Unpretentious;

Afraid of being alone;

Sociable - loves parties and festivals;

Quick to fall in love;

Doesn't linger over-much with heart-break;

Cheerful.

Anything there sound like the blood type personality of Matsuda in Death Note?

The Convention of Blood Type B in Anime Genki Characters like Matsuda

Matsuda Death Note genki?

However, it may behove us not to seek too deeply through that list of Blood Group B personality traits for Tsugumi Ohba's inner thoughts about Matsuda.

It may be enough to know that Touta Matsuda was intended to be a genki character in the Death Note manga and anime. There is a tradition within the genre that a) there is at least one genki persona and b) that individual is categorized blood type B.

Genki is a Japanese word which simply means 'energetic' or 'enthusiastic'. These anime trope personalities are often (to the point of usually) female, hence the label 'genki girl' being quite prevalent amongst fans. We're looking at the kind of person who squees and bounces through scenes with an over-abundance of cheerfulness, enthusiasm and energy, that should tag them as blood type amphetamine and e numbers, rather than a mere B.

They run where they could walk; they wave their arms wildly around when they speak; they gabble incessantly, with a gushing regard for the subject of their speech. Their confidence is unparalleled and their determination absolute. They're often the comic relief in any given story, inserted when the narrative is in danger of becoming way too dark.

For most given points in the Death Note story, we should be looking at Misa Amane as the archetypal manga/anime genki here. But maybe Tsugumi Ohba is unconventional too. As she was assigned blood type AB instead.

Is Matsuda for you the Death Note genki personality? And if so, is that why he was given blood type B in his characterisation?

Posted as Part of

It has been an incredibly exciting week for Death Note fans, and now we find out that Takeshi Obata has been overseeing the artwork for Death Note 2016's brand, new shinigami(s) too.

On the 4th of February 2016, the official Twitter account - for this new Japanese live-action Death Note movie - announced the actors involved in the film, character introductions, as well as posting comments from Obata and Ohba themselves!

The comments, translated from the original Japanese, state:

“It will be interesting, and there is a possibility that more Shinigami will pop up because of the six Death Notes.

There is a luxury cast involved in the movie, and I’m excited to see how they will react to everything. You absolutely can’t hold back the excitement.”– Ohba-sensei

“The previous work on the Shinigami was more realistic, but I think the atmosphere is a lot darker now.

The art of the new Shinigami was closely supervised. I am also looking forward to seeing the completed product.”– Obata-sensei

Japan's new Death Note movie will be released sometime this year, and cast comments are available at the official movie website.

So the funny thing about Japanese is that it uses three different systems of writing: kanji, hiragana, and katakana.

Kanji was borrowed from China a long time ago and applied to Japanese words (although the sounds it represented had to be tweaked along the way) and is now used in combination with hiragana for native Japanese words. Since kanji had to be tweaked and adapted for convenient use, several different readings (or pronunciations) exist for each one.

Japanese names in modern times are typically written in kanji, though there are exceptions. Light’s name is written using these kanji: 夜神月 (ya gami raito).

Each of the kanji in his name have different possible pronunciations and common meanings, with “Yagami” using the kanji for “night” and “god”, and “Raito” using “moon/month”.

Interestingly there are no readings for 月 that sound anything like “raito”. The existing readings are “tsuki” (moon) and “getsu/gatsu” (month).

Kira worshippers and moon at theend of Death Note

So why is a kanji, that is usually read as “tsuki” on its own, pronounced with a very English sounding “raito”, or “Light”? Simple answer: because Ohba-sensei told us that’s how it’s to be pronounced.

Complex answer: a naming phenomenon exists in Japan, utilising kanji that looks cool, in order to write names that would typically be written a different, more common way.

It is not so strange for parents to want their children to have unique names, nor for manga authors to name their characters using these conventions. It enables them to give their main characters names that are not used in other manga. Ohba-sensei chose the kanji that means moon to represent a new meaning of “light”, stretching the meaning of the original just enough to still be understood.

Why Light Continues to be Called Tsuki Yagami or Raito Yagami by Fans Today

This explains why Light Yagami's name is sometimes read as Tsuki Yagami and/or Raito Yagami too. After all, we're being asked to render a common word in kanji in an uncommon way.

Then - back when Death Note was first released - and now - with each new person picking up the tale - every Japanese reader would assume that Ohba-sensei intended his protagonist to be called Yagami Tsuki. They have no reason not to, until Light himself explains in the manga how to pronounce his name. That doesn't happen until, I believe, chapter twelve.

During his encounter with Naomi Misora, Light goes to great lengths to spell out precisely how his kanji is meant to be read. It seems a little strange in context; too long-winded an explanation over a simple name pronunciation. Particularly in conversation with a lady whom Light is about to kill, concerning kanji that she can't even see written down.

But this was the way that Ohba-sensei got to tell his manga's readers too how to say his main character's name. En masse the whole fledging Death Note fandom suddenly had to teach themselves not to say Yagami Tsuki (or Yagami Raito) as assumed, but the now familiar Yagami Light. Some still got it wrong - misunderstanding the correction as being from Tsuki to Raito - like in the panels above, produced by an unofficial early translator of Death Note manga chapters into English.

All proving how unusual it is for a Japanese schoolboy to be called Light, spelled as tsuki kanji and pronounced raito. So uncommon and strange that some readers still opt for what the kanji is more obviously telling them, hence all three names continue to be prevalent throughout the fandom and even the rarest of them - Tsuki Yagami - may still be heard.

It may be that Ohba-sensei waited so long before (literally) spelling out how he wanted Light's name to be known, because the author hadn't quite decided the issue for himself.

Not until Death Note 13: How to Read was more insight divulged on the subject. In the interview with Tsugumi Ohba, it's stated that he struggled with Light's name, unable to settle upon the right one. Then his editor suggested 'Yagami' and it sparked enough inspiration in the writer that he went on a quest to find the kanji.

When I looked through the Japanese name registry, I found the Kanji for 'star' and 'light'. At first, I wasn't too concerned about it. But the final scene in the manga gave his name deeper significance. I liked that.- Tsugumi Ohba, Death Note author, How to Read: Death Note 13, p 61.

Reading between the lines, it's quite possible to imagine Ohba-sensei merely enjoying the duality of 'star', 'moon' and 'light' inherent in his protagonist's Kanji. Then, as the story grew and the characterisation became more fixed, future scenes might flash eradescent through a storyteller's mind. As yet unformed, but filling him with glee enough to shift away from that lack of concern into a sudden conviction that it should be Light, not Raito, nor Tsuki, that readers saw in that Kanji.

The writer had found the right name for Death Note's central character. Now he just needed the manga reading public to switch tracks with him, and that last scene would be beautifully full of symbolism.

Yet he kept the moon there too - in the first pages and penultimate ones too, as evidenced by the twin images shown at the top of this article; in situ bookmarking hundreds of pages across 108 chapters. The Yagami Tsuki people were able to feel validated in stubbornly retaining that original presumed moniker for their character.

But then turn the page and that light upon the worshipper's face could just as easily be cast from a star. At least metaphorically, with the star of hope. There's a nod to the editor's name registry book and the dual meaning of the star-light Kanji found inside. The moment when Ohba-sensei could breathe life into his creation; for no persona lives on the page, until its name is known.

And again, turn a page to the manga's final word - a simple candle and its glow burning bright. No celestial being this, nothing so divine. Just Light, casting shadows, and the nothingness beyond. Great final scene. Good name.

Tsuki? Moon glow in the background; seemingly stars bright in their hands

Turning away from stars and the moon to a candle's small 'light' - this is Kira-sama

Amaryllis's analysis of why Light Yagami may be called Tsuki Yagami by some fandom members, was posted as part of Death Note Month of Kira.

Running throughout February 2016, anyone may contribute Kira related content for this event. That includes you, and your mate.

To find out more about it, visit Death Note Month of... Home; to send in articles, art, recipes, queries, fan-fiction, tutorials, opinion pieces or any other wonders you're moved to share, please visit our sparkly new Month of... Reader Submission Page.

Cosplayers, you now have your very own Death Notecostumers' questionnaire, as another option for inclusion in the Month of... focus. Other groups, you'll get one soon, if you're an artist, writer and - if there's demand enough for it - role-player. Nudge us to request more community surveys for any other category of Death Note fan expression not yet counted.

Sales of Death Noteliterature on Death Note News(Screenshot January 18th 2016)

So you think you've read (and probably own) every book about Death Note? Check out our store, you might be surprised.

We certainly have been. During a whole weekend of hunting down errant manga and other literary Death Note works, there were tomes we'd never heard of, let alone read.

And coming from a gang of such Death Note obsessives, that's quite saying something.

For example, did you know about L: File Number 15? A canon book of short Death Note cartoons created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Half of our team did not.

Or what about Notes of Reasoning, the Chinese novel by Zao An Xia Tian? Which may or not not be a canon work taking the Death Note universe and adapting it to a Chinese setting. Or it may be an elaborate and published piece of fan-fiction. We don't know. None of us speak Chinese.

How about the hardback special editions of Death Note manga that exist out there in the English language? Some of those even took us by surprise, missing our radar entirely.

As you may have surmised, this weekend has been a time of skipping interesting things and putting our nose to the grind of finding, collating, formatting and arranging Death Note books everywhere, in various languages, across the board of genres.

It's worth nipping inside, if only to discover what you may have missing from your own library collection. But also to purchase a volume or two to help with the costs of running this website. Enjoy! And if you buy, thank you.

It's quite sobering to stop and consider the situations met head on by Death Note's grand matriarch, Sachiko Yagami.

What was great drama for us was fundamentally the story of her entire family's destruction. Yet she is last seen standing strong, mothering in the ruins of shinigami boredom and all it wrought upon her home, kith and kin. Pushing her traumatized daughter Sayu in her wheelchair through a park.

Sachiko Yagami as we left her, attempting to reinvigorate shocked daughter Sayu after the latter's Mafia abduction

Seen from above, like a Death God watching; sharing its view with us - the voyeurs in a series of personal tragedies. Should the sympathetic perspective ever switch to that of Sachiko. But we were rapt.

We too watched only until we were bored. Or the instalments ended and there was no protagonist left to kill. Then like shinigami ourselves, we flew away to manga and anime pastures new. Finding other sources of entertainment, leaving the character to continue on with her strolls in the park. Caring, because what else was there for her to do? Scream? Sob? Collapse under the grief and sorrow for the cards that life dealt her?

Frankly, she doesn't seem the sort.

Sachiko Yagami, Strong Woman of Death Note

My copy of Death Note 13: How to Read says of Sachiko that she's a 'strong woman who stays by Soichiro's side and supports him through thick and thin. She's a dutiful wife and does her best to keep her family from falling apart during the Kira investigations.'

Alongside it a caption to a manga panel reads, 'worn out by the stressful fight with Kira, Soichiro receives encouragement from Sachiko until the very end'.

However, it seems there are different editions and translations of this tome. Another one is reproduced left. Here the wording slightly, and very subtly, differs.

Now we are told that Sachiko 'is Light's mother and as the wife of a policeman, she has been quietly supportive of Soichiro. Despite being an ordinary housewife, she fiercely upholds her trust in Soichiro and kept the family together during the most troubled times of the Kira case.' Because you know, 'ordinary housewives' are generally distrustful of their husbands and live to scatter the family in times of trouble. But at least she's not 'dutiful' anymore, a word which doesn't sit well in the Western mind, whatever the etymology.

The panel caption is now worded, 'when Soichiro had his doubts about his decisions in the Kira's case (sic), Sachiko was at his side, urging him to see it to the end.' Which makes her sound a bit bad-ass and the rock in the family. Until you put the panel into context, then you have to wonder if there was a touch of psychopathy there for Light to inherit. Soichiro has, after all, just announced to his family that he's prepared to die to bring this evil to justice.

Which is all very well and noble for society at large, but not much good to her. Nevertheless, Sachiko pretty much says, 'Yeah, go on, martyr yourself for the cause then. I support your decision to die a hero.' Like one of those fabled wives of Sparta, who purportedly told their spouses to return with their shield (victorious) or upon it (dead).

Supportive, dutiful or 'as long as you get from under my feet and stop whining, dear'. Apparently the former, given the emphasis placed upon her support of husband Soichiro Yagami in both translations of the original Japanese penned by Death Note author Tsugumi Ohba.

Charting the Personality of Sachiko Yagami from Death Note

There are also some small differences in the personal data between my own copy of How to Read, and that found elsewhere on-line.

Sachiko's birthday - October 10th 1962 - and the blankness of her death day (because she didn't die; she survived Death Note) remain the same. As does her blood type, liking for TV drama (the reproduction adds 'serials') and dislike of salesmen. Perhaps some hint of a story lies in that last entry. It does to any self-respecting fan-fiction writer anyway. Leave it with me.

My version says that she's 5' 2" in height and weighs 110lbs. The other 158cm/50kg. Same thing, different units of measurement. (And for the benefit of any British reading, that's 7 stone 86lbs, on the off-chance that anyone cares for such things.) So far so pretty standard, but then we get to the personality chart and the wording changes significantly.

Both are agreed on 'intelligence' and 'creativity'. The above version's 'willingness to act' aligns with mine own 'initiative'. Then this alternative translation has 'motivation', where my copy of How to Read states 'emotional strength'. Two rather different concepts. In all so far, Sachiko ranks rather low. She does just a little better in the next point charted. 'Social life' says that recreated above. My book goes for 'social skills'. Same ball-park, different sport. Finally there's the section in which Sachiko Yagami actually excels. Above it lists 'housewifeness'. Whatever that is. In my Shonen Jump Advanced published edition, that reads 'verbosity'.

Verbosity. An excess of words; long-windedness; the propensity to never shut up. Describing the Queen of Understatement in Death Note.

The second article in a column taking a look at Death Notethrough a philosophical frame of mindby Nathaniel

A question has been bothering me lately; I mean really bothering me in the way such frivolous things can bother fanboys and fangirls. Were Light and L friends? What was their relationship with one another?

At the heart of Death Note (in my opinion) is this dynamic. That’s not to discount the second season, far from it. But most adaptations of Death Note have focused on the game of cat and mouse between our favourite sociopaths*.

Death Note's Compelling Cat and Mouse Dynamic

L and Light from theDeath Note manga

Once again I go back to the wise and venerable Ohba in search of answers and once again he disappoints. In an interview he was asked, “Did L have any friends?” We are told, “No. When he told Light that Light was his first friend, it was a lie. L could never have a friend, as he found humans to be a very cunning species.”

I find this a very disappointing answer, as it removes the ambiguity from the relationship that makes it so compelling.

As humans, we find uncertainty far more interesting than simply being told the answer. It’s why the ending of Inception - where we don’t know if the protagonist is in a dream world or not - is so frequently discussed. We don’t like being told all the answers. Characters like Hamlet stay with us because we don’t know whether or not he’s mad; that’s what makes him interesting. It allows us to continue engaging with our favourite series after we’ve watched them.

The series that captures this best is the original Death Note manga and anime. Sometimes I wonder if Ohba (like George Lucas) actually understands what made his series so brilliant.

I also wonder if this is what makes the Yotsuba slightly less popular than earlier parts of the series - because it removed the cat and mouse aspect of their relationship. With Light no longer an evil monster, we’re deprived of seeing him monologue about how he’s going to become 'God of the New World', as well as amazing scenes like the death of Lind. L Tailor.

I’m of the opinion that the author can’t determine every reading of their work. They can give their interpretation, but it’s not the only one that’s valid. A work connects and engages with its reader on an individual level, and everyone takes something different away from it.

With that in mind I want to give a brief overview of how I interpret their relationship. I reject the homosexual readings of the series. This isn’t because it bothers me in anyway (one of my favourite TV shows is Hannibal, which has extremely obvious homoerotic undertones) but simply because I view Light as asexual. To me, Light represents a single minded determination towards one goal.

That’s not to say there isn’t some platonic admiration in their relationship, probably even a perverse friendship.

How did Light Yagami Regard his Relationship with L?

Near wearing an L maskin Death Note anime

Light clearly has some respect for L. He’s actually angry when he sees Near wearing his mask, “You are far inferior to L. You have no right to be wearing a mask of L”. The last thing Light sees in the anime is L standing over him, a powerful physical representation of the influence L has over Light.

Light is shown throughout the series to be someone who had spent a solitary seventeen years of life. He seems detached from his friends and never once in the series shows interest in someone outside his family, unless it benefits his goals (such as in the instances of Misa and Takeda) with one exception - L.

Light is someone who has been deprived of an intellectual equal his entire life. The existence of L, someone who can keep up with him would be extremely significant to him; some form of validation that he isn’t alone.

On a purely mental level Light has probably understood that there are people as smart as him out there, but I doubt he truly comprehended it before he met L. To Light, I think he viewed L as the perfect obstacle towards his ascension to 'God of the New World'.

Light wanted a challenge, something to make his success more satisfying. L provided that.

How did L View Light Yagami in Death Note?

L washes and massaging Light's feet in the Death Note anime

Did L view Light as a friend? It’s hard to say. It’s probably wise to differentiate between the manga and anime at this point. In the anime it seems to imply some form of affection towards Light, mostly during the scene where L washes Light’s feet, a fairly homoerotic action.

Outside of that? Well, L is a liar and it seems probable that his comments about being Light’s 'friend' were designed to throw him off guard. But that doesn’t preclude there being some truth in them as well.

A lot of what I have said about Light probably applies to L. This was undoubtedly L’s toughest case, he did lose after all. Like Light, he probably had met few people as intelligent as himself, and never interacted with them on the level he interacted with Light (Near never spoke personally to L).

One of the strongest arguments in favour of their platonic (or romantic) attraction is that other versions of the story portray as it as such. In the drama they have a heart to heart where they basically scream their love for one another (whilst trying to murder each other no less). In the musical there is a similar ending I hear (though it’s more from L than Light).

* Disclaimer: No respected psychiatrist or psychologist has used the term sociopath or psychopath in many years. I just like it.

Setting foot on a Fool's Journey through Death Note in a new column by Tarot card reader, Tarot Mikami

Many dramas, books and films make use of tarot cards to symbolic effect. Death Note is no exception. There's no doubt that the cards were chosen for shock value. Yet remarkably, Death Note's tarot usage is often - and perhaps inadvertently - correct.

The appearance of tarot cards in Death Note is heralded by Near's shopping list, presented to Anthony Rester, of things that he requires in order to investigate the Kira case. Amid items such as 'plastic models', 'inflatable pool', 'secret base set', 'radio controlled rubber duck' and a 'Christmas tree', Near asked for 'Tarot cards... $250'. That's a pretty expensive deck of tarot!

It's to Near we return, time and again, to see how tarot is used in Death Note.

Death Note Near's Tarot Deck

Near's tarot cards in Death Note Episode 30 (anime)

The deck of tarot cards used by Near in Death Note appears to have been invented by Takeshi Obata (or prompted for him to draw by writer Tsugumi Ohba). At least it's not one that I've ever seen outside the Death Note universe, nor have any fans apparently found a real world set. Surely a marketing opportunity lost right there.

Anthony Rester's tarot purchase on behalf on Near was first revealed in the manga: Death Note Chapter 78 Prediction. Those scenes later appeared in the anime: Death Note Episode 30 Justice.

Back of Near's Tarot in Death Note

Death and The Devil in Near's Death Note Tarot

Near's Tarot Spread in Death Note Manga and Anime

In both the Death Note anime and manga, Near lays his tarot cards out in a very specific way. They are arrayed in a circle around himself, with most of the cards used in this manner, while a small pile remains to sit inside with him.

While I can't claim to know every single tarot card spread in existence, this one is a new configuration on me. It's difficult to know how it would - or indeed could - be read in a predictive context.

Near's tarot spread in Death Note - Prediction manga chapter 78

There are roughly 40-44 tarot cards precisely placed in a circle around Near. As there are seventy-eight cards in most packs, this constitutes the majority of them. They appear even more densely packed in version shown in the anime of how Near lays out his tarot cards.

Near's tarot spread in Death Note anime episode Justice

Circular tarot spreads tend to use far fewer cards. The most I've encountered are sixteen piles, with thirteen or twelve (or zodiacal spreads of tarot) being more common. This isn't to say that Near hasn't invented his own, or else knows a way that I haven't seen before. Just that it's rather surprising and probably for visual effect only.

The question being - for whose?

Themes and Motifs in Death Note's Tarot Scene

Death Note Episode 30: Justice

The titles of the Death Note scenes where tarot cards are featured contain hints of their usage.

In the manga, this is Chapter 78 - there are usually 78 cards in a tarot deck. The chapter is entitled Prediction. Fortune telling is how tarot is most famously employed, though by no means the only way in which they might be used.

Moreover, in Death Note 13: How to Read, author Tsugumi Ohba claimed that he chose the title based upon the predictions given by Near and Light respectively. Namely that there is a fake rule (Near) and that Mello would contact the Japanese Kira Task Force (Light). No mention of tarot in this context at all, though it would seem the obvious source.

In the anime, the scenes in which Near reads tarot cards occur in Episode 30: Justice. There's nothing particularly meaningful about the number 30 in tarot, but there is a card usually labelled Justice.

The opening panels of Death Note: Chapter 78 Predictiondepicting Near reading the tarot

Death Note Near's Tarot Card Reading - Death

Absolutely the most clichéd use of a tarot card in popular culture comes with the misuse of the Death card. The problem is that viewers, or readers, think they know what it means. You don't have to be a tarot reader to interpret that Death is bound to translate into a fatality. It doesn't look good for the person whose fortune is being told, which is why it works so well for dramatic effect.

Unfortunately for the storytelling plot, the Death card in tarot rarely means actual, physical death for any individual uncovering it.

As an aside, a group of us tarot readers once challenged ourselves to come up with a configuration of cards which would genuinely denote an imminent loss of life. As in unequivocally could not be read in any other way. It was hard work, with much toing and froing and debate, but we eventually arrived at something. Every card was one of the minor arcana. They did not feature the major arcana card Death.

So how did Death Note do with its use of the tarot Death card?

With the Death card on view, Near offers to kill Mello

At first glance, quite badly. Near waves the Death card about whilst discussing Shinigami, rules of the Death Note and finally focuses upon it as he tells Light and the Japanese Task Force that he plans to murder Mello. None of which are particularly covered by that card's tarot meaning.

At least not in isolation.

Though, of course, Near could just be using the Death tarot card as a symbolic prop and not reading it at all. In which case, it very nicely indicates a Death God, an instrument of death and a vigilante brand of enacting capital punishment upon his erstwhile foster brother.

However, that's not precisely how and when Near links events with his Death card.

Near flips the Death card to conclude that the 13 day rule in Death Note is fake

In tarot, the Death card signifies an ending of something - usually a situation or circumstance, rather than a life. It might just as well have been called a breakthrough card or closure of a chapter, than the more evocative Death.

Near doesn't turn over his card until the moment when he's found a rule which can't be proven true given the known facts of the Kira case. Unless, of course, Light Yagami really was innocent, which Near doesn't believe.

Therefore the appearance of the Death card in Death Note marks a watershed moment whereby Near's investigation genuinely threatens Kira's security, and Light's previously watertight alibi. It's also the first fruits from the beginning of a new arc, in which Mello and Near (not entirely willingly) work together to defeat their mutual adversary.

Death Note's creators may have employed this tarot card in a purely symbolic way or not, but it also fits the plot.

Death Note Near's Tarot Reading - The Devil

A second card gets flicked over, as Near realises that the second L - à la Kira - can see and speak with a shinigami. Bringing another of the major arcana into play seems to denote that some progress has been made. Two cards to signify that they've taken a step forward.

It could also be seen very symbolically without recourse to knowledge of tarot cards. If Kira is Death, then he was tempted into it by a supernatural force, i.e. the Death God. (Who was no doubt seen as demonic anyway, especially in the Western mind, amid all that Christian imagery dotted throughout Death Note.) Who better then to represent Ryuk in tarot than The Devil?

Near storytelling via tarot illustrations in Death Note

However, as it happens, The Devil in tarot is exactly the right card for Ryuk, particularly in this situation.

If you're reading from an Abrahamic background (Jew, Christian, Muslim etc.), then please put aside all you know of The Devil/Satan. This tarot card skirts about the edges of that persona, but it isn't an exact fit. For that you need to reach further into the inspiration for the modern Devil - Pan, Bacchus/Dionysus etc. This is a deity/demi-god who exists for hedonistic pleasure. He will grant your every desire and give you tools to satisfy your greatest craving. Thus teaching the individual the meaning of the old adage: be careful what you wish for, it might come true.

You only have to see the addict in thrall to their next hit, or those crushed beneath debt because they really couldn't afford all those things that they bought, in order to see how instant gratification and receiving all that you wanted might go badly wrong.

In the case of Kira, it was that Ryuk presented him with power usually beyond the scope of any mere human. Light Yagami's wish for a better world made him reach for the Death Note. His use of it ultimately controlled him, rather than the other way around. Ryuk has frequently stated that he's on nobody's side. He's there for the lulz, as it were. But here he is providing Light/Kira/2nd L with the lie required to continue satisfying his need to remain in power.

That is The Devil of the tarot, and the Death God of the manga/anime alike. At any time, Light could have stopped. Ryuk doesn't force him into this course of action. He just facilitates it.

That Near turns over The Devil card at the point whereby Ryuk lies on Kira's behalf is exactly right. That was the moment of facilitation, not merely that of being present.

Ryuk and Light exemplify The Devil in Death Note Chapter 78

How Near Uses Tarot Cards in Death Note

In both the manga and anime, Death Note's tarot scenes with Near aren't so much fortune-telling - nor the Prediction of its chapter title - as seeing the cards used as commentary upon what's already occurring. Near isn't 'reading' tarot cards per se. He's providing illustrations to highlight the important clues unfolding.

If he'd merely picked those cards at random from the tarot pack, then they really were worth the $250 in precision, and Near is undoubtedly the most intuitive character in manga history.

But he didn't pick either of them at random.

Look again at how the sequence with The Devil tarot card in the Death Note anime plays out to witness how Near selects his tarot cards quite purposefully.

Psychological Profiling with Near's Tarot Deck in Death Note

Step One: Near sits in the midst of his circle of tarot cards. He's selected just a handful - five or six at most - and flicks through them overlooked by Hal Lidner and Anthony Rester. As his conversation with Light Yagami goes on, Near's index finger pauses upon a single card among the tarot in his hand. His fingertip strokes back and forth along its rim.

Analysis: Near hasn't yet reached a firm conclusion upon what's occurring with the Second L (Light/Kira). Each tarot card in his hand represents a possibility.

Step Two: Near suddenly whips the card free of those in his hand. But he holds it away from himself, with its picture aspect concealed from his own view. His gaze is actually upon the Death card upturned on the carpet before him. Meanwhile, Near tells Light that he knows there is a fake rule in the Death Note and asks his opinion upon which it is. Light - in the guise of (second) L - answers that it's the 13 day rule.

Analysis: Until now, The Devil card has symbolized one of a final handful of strong contenders for what's going on. Near has promoted it to most likely scenario, but cannot acknowledge it as fact until he's tested his theory.

Step Three: As Light asks Ryuk to confirm whether or not there is a fake rule in the Death Note, Near smiles and turns The Devil card towards himself. He does so at the moment that Ryuk asserts that there are no fake rules, thus lying to maintain Light Yagami's prior alibi against accusations of being Kira.

In that pose, Near clarifies that there is indeed a shinigami present, and confirms that the answer was that all Death Note rules are truly stated.

Analysis: Near has already deduced that there should be a shinigami present, as he suspects that Light Yagami is Kira. What he was testing was whether the relationship between Kira and Ryuk is akin to that state of affairs governed in tarot by The Devil card. Near knows there is a fake rule, so Ryuk's denial of the fact confirms Near's favoured theory.

From a pack of 78 tarot cards, Near has now homed in on one - The Devil - to describe Kira's inner sanctum and mindset, and Ryuk's position within the scenario too. This sets the tempo for what will later play out in the Yellow Box warehouse. In short, Near just nailed Light Yagami's psychology; Ryuk's facilitative indifference; and his own end game. All with a single tarot card to provide context.

Step Four: Near might hold his card close to his heart, but only physically. In actuality, he's crowing his victory - repeating to Light precisely what just happened. That the confirmation wasn't that the Death Note rules aren't fake, but that a shinigami will lie in capitulation to Kira's will.

Whilst speaking, Near throws down The Devil card, so it lands upturned upon the Death card.

Analysis: Thus Near is able to finally play his card - The Devil previously selected - whilst spelling out to all listening (the remaining SPK, plus the entire Japanese Task Force, in addition to Light and Ryuk) that the shinigami's presence confirms Kira's presence too.

Moreover, Near's just shown that the Death God will lie for Kira, inserting fake rules to provide him with an alibi. Therefore Light Yagami's innocence is no longer proven. He could still be, and almost certainly is, Kira.

He never once mentions The Devil, though Hal, Anthony and the unseen Stephen would be able to see Near deal his tarot card. Nevertheless, Near has tripped Light up by triggering the weakness inherent to all in that state of being highlighted by The Devil in tarot.

Conclusion: Near uses the tarot in Death Note as psychological profiling tools. Not fortune-telling at all, just props for his own thought processes and theory categorization.

Surrounded by his tarot, Near contemplates The World to attain in Death Note

I hope you enjoyed the first editorial in my Tarot column for Death Note News. Next time I'll be looking at the way Near uses tarot in the Death Note One Shot manga.~ Tarot Mikami

You think you'd know how L looked in his first Death Note panel, or Light, or Ryuk.

If you're anything like me - self-proclaimed obsessive in my attention to detail, coupled with a great memory, thus believing I knew it all - then you'd be wrong.

I even guessed Mello's introduction incorrectly. Got the scene, just not the shot. Mine was the next one on.

For us prospective Death Note know-it-alls, Japanese blogger Kyoko Kikuchi has painstakingly trawled through the manga and sifted out all those first appearances for every main Death Note character.

It's actually more fascinating than it initially sounds. I thought it would be a thing of passing interest, but I'm struck by how many times we meet individuals without ever seeing their face. Takeshi Obata has his readership creep up on characters, like stalkers or shinigami.

Ryuk, Misa, Mello and Near are all introduced to their soon-to-be fan-base with their backs to the 'camera' peering into the panel. L is turned towards us, but the top of his head is missing. Too tall for his own scene. Our perspective comes from above and focuses upon his groin area, albeit strategically shielded from view by the droop off his hand resting on his knee.

Misa Amane's first Death Note appearance

How the Death Note world first met L

Light and Soichiro Yagami are both first viewed head on, but from a few feet away, framed by their environment and with the reader positioned above left. Father and son are each sitting behind desks - one at school, the other at Interpol - with their arms crossed before them. They are in rows, surrounded by others all seated the same, facing towards a single frontal focus point.

Like father, like son - our first sight of the Yagami men in Death Note manga panels

Even the shapes of things on their tables mirror, in polar opposite colours, objects on the surface before the other.

A microphone bisects our view of Soichiro's desk. A pen apes its short straight line and direction on that of his son. What is that black rectangle in front of Light Yagami? Is it a pencil case with a white pattern upon it? Its contours and colour is mimicked in the white name-plate identifying his father and colleague as representatives of Japan. Complete with their nation's flag - seen without hues as fundamentally a white square with a black sun.

See what I mean? Much more to look into, while inspecting the first Death Note manga panels for major characters, than might be supposed. Perhaps hidden bits of sub-plot in where Tsugumi Ohba directed, or Takeshi Obata just draw, correlations between certain individuals.

As Neil Gaiman wrote in Sandman (and I'm fond of repeating to readers of my fan fiction) - Always trust the story, never the storyteller. There's always more to see in the subtleties and the little things, the links and what's left out.

And today I learned that artists are just as bad.

Discover more first sightings in the manga of Death Note personae in Kyoko Kikuchi's Death Note blog. Then keep on reading, because also found and ready for the analysing are the panels wherein we see each character's face for the first time. Plus, if they survived the time jump, then Kyoko also digs out the picture introducing us to that individual's older self in the second arc.

We could be here for hours.

However, the collection did miss out Matt's first Death Note manga appearance, in chapter 83, page 10. Let me make good that omission. And oh! Look! Just like Mello, Near, L, Ryuk and Misa, he's looking away with his face concealed. Interesting.